15 Places Telling Tourists to Stay Home

Tourism can provide an incredible economic boost, sure, but some locales say it can also be harmful to the environment and negatively impact local populations. With such considerations in mind, several destinations around the world have proposed—or put into place—measures restricting the annual number of visitors.
This post was originally published in June 2015. It has been updated with new information.

Santorini

Santorini, the famed blue-and-white darling of the Cyclades, isn't shunning tourists altogether, but it is making some significant changes in the coming months: Hoping to stem the tide of cruise tourists, which reached 10,000 per day during peak season (May-September) last year, the island will in 2017 begin limiting the number of cruise ship visitors to 8,000 a day. (Fliers, take note: At present, there aren't any plans to limit the number of people who come to Santorini by air, since the number is significantly smaller.) Not entirely interested in Santorini? Here's where Greek locals think you should go instead.

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Norway

Norway is now faced with the prospect of weighing whether or not too many tourists is a good problem to have—especially at its natural sites. According to The Local, Norsk Friluftsliv, Norway's leading hiking and outdoors group, has called for a limit on tourists trekking to popular spots and vantage points including Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock) and Trolltunga (Troll Tongue). Norwegian People's Aid has already performed 34 rescue emergencies at Pulpit Rock (pictured) this year, and due to the number of accidents and injuries, the Norwegian Tourist Association in August has called for new laws preventing climbing to the location altogether.

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Venice

Venice seems to be experiencing serious inundation in more ways than one. In addition to rising water levels that threaten its infrastructure, the ancient city has seen such a deluge of visitors that some academics believe the native population could be zero as early as 2030. (Cruise ship traffic has quintupled in the past 15 years, and rising rent prices have left locals unable to afford a place in the city.) To cut back on the flow of travelers, heritage group Italia Nostra ("Our Italy") has asked the government to ban cruise ships in the harbor, and wants to require large groups to book ahead of time before visiting the city. And while there are no specific plans to curtail visitors as of yet, posters around La Serenissima are making it clear that tourists are less than welcome by some residents.

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Koh Tachai

Koh Tachai, an island that is part of Thailand's Similan National Park, has been closed indefinitely since October 15 after proving a little too popular with tourists. Three more islands—Koh Khai Nok, Koh Khai Nui, and Koh Khai Nai, all of which are off the coast of Phuket—have similarly followed suit, though not as drastically: tourism is now drastically limited, with tour operators having to follow strict rules about when, where, and how to visit the islands. Those beach chairs and umbrellas? Completely removed.

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Zion National Park

Utah's Zion is expecting a record four million visitors this year, and not everyone is happy about it: to combat increased land erosion and "overwhelmed facilities," park officials are considering putting a daily cap on visitor numbers via a new reservation system. Inside the park, Zion Canyon has suffered the most in recent years, but Zion-Mount Carmel Highway, the Narrows, and Angels Landing could face new restrictions, too. Interested in viewing all of the possibilities? Visit the plan proposals, and submit any feedback from October 24 to November 23. The park is aiming to have settled on a concrete strategy by 2018.

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Barcelona

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau made headlines in June 2015 when she discussed implementing an entry cap on the Spanish city. In order to keep Barcelona from reaching its "saturation limit," Colau's administration is developing plans to balance the tourism sector's interests with those of local residents; potentially putting a city-wide freeze on the development of new hotels and creating a preventative policy before things "get out of hand." As of May 2016, the city was considering a new tourist tax, which would charge travelers entering the city who don't stay overnight—think day-trippers, and those in town on a cruise.

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Bhutan

High on the Himalayas’ eastern edge, the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan prides itself on “low volume, high-value” tourism. All foreign visitors—except those holding Indian, Maldivian, or Bangladeshi passports—must get a visa and book their holiday through a licensed Bhutanese tour operator. Visitors must also pay, in advance, the "minimum daily package" (either $200 or $250 a day, depending on the month) set by the Royal Government of Bhutan, via money transfer to the Tourism Council of Bhutan. This fee covers your accommodation, all meals, guides, internal transport, and a sustainable tourism royalty that goes toward free education, health care, and poverty alleviation. Only 155,121 tourists visited Bhutan in 2015; of
this, 57,537 were international visitors, while the remaining were regional—India, Bangladesh, the Maldives.

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Iceland

As of May 2015, the number of visitors to Iceland had increased 76 percent over the same period in 2014, and in 2017, Iceland will have more American tourists than actual residents. Currently, the Icelandic Tourist Board and the Icelandic Tourism Research Centre are researching how “full” a site can get before detracting from the experience. “We have to realize that we can’t just build up natural sites endlessly," Ólöf Ýrr Atladóttir, director general of the Icelandic Tourist Board, said in 2014. "We can’t just endlessly receive more and more people at any particular tourist site and live under the assumption that we are offering the type of experience that people have paid for.” (Proposed Airbnb regulations are one such attempt by the government to regulate the influx of tourists.)

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Galápagos Islands

Some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, these 19 islands—which inspired Darwin’s theory of evolution—host approximately 9,000 species on land and in their surrounding waters. By 2007, residents and tourists had put such a burden on the ecosystems that the United Nations listed the destination as an endangered heritage site. Today, 97 percent of the land area is designated as part of the national park, and tourism is carefully monitored so that there is no further impact on the islands’ health or wildlife. Tourists can only travel to specific visitor sites, and must adhere to these 14 rules, including accompaniment by a licensed Galápagos National Park Guide. The U.N. removed the Galápagos from its "in danger" list in 2010.

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Machu Picchu

Although visitors were once allowed to wander this 15th-century site freely, new measures encouraged by UNESCO are intended to clamp down on the number of tourists visiting one of Peru's premier destinations. As part of a $43.7-million reconceptualization expected to be completed by 2019, all foreign visitors will have to hire a guide, follow one of three designated routes through the complex, and be subjected to time limits in order to prevent bottlenecking. In 2014, some 1.2 million tourists visited the 12-acre Incan citadel, surpassing the daily limit of 2,500 agreed to by Peru and UNESCO. The ancient site was added to UNESCO's "endangered" list in January 2016.

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Lord Howe Island

Located 370 miles off mainland Australia, this seven-square-mile island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982 for its rare flora, fauna, and marine life. In surrounding waters, there are more than 400 species of fish and 90 species of coral. Also considered one of the cleanest places on Earth, approximately 75 percent of the island’s original vegetation remains undisturbed. With just 350 full-time residents and a limit of 400 visitors on the island at any given time, there are ample spaces to call your own.

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Cinque Terre

A picturesque group of five villages along the Ligurian Sea, Cinque Terre is one of Italy's most popular sites. Italian officials, however, have recently announced their plans to cap the number of people who are allowed to visit, citing environmental concerns. Though 2.5 million travelers visited Cinque Terre in 2015, the number will be restricted to 1.5 million per year going forward.

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Antarctica

By 2009, a surge in visits led to a ratification of the Antarctic Treaty. Among other things, signatories agreed to barring cruise ships with more than 500 passengers from landing sites; restricting landings to one vessel at a time (per site); and limiting passengers on shore to 100 at a time. Today, visitors to the pristine environment must travel through operators and organizers who have been approved by their appropriate national authorities, and can expect that their time—whether on shore or simply sailing by—will be strictly monitored.

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The Seychelles

An archipelago of 115 islands off the East African coast, the Seychelles have become massively popular for both “regular” tourists and royalty—yes, this is where William and Kate spent their honeymoon. Though tourism is the Seychelles’ biggest industry, its minister of tourism and culture, Alain St. Ange, said in April 2015 that work is underway to curb the number of annual visitors in order to protect its future. “We don’t want to demean the value of the Seychelles. We’re reaching 250,000 people, six times the number of people who live there.”

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Mt. Everest

With mounting calls to reduce the number of teams and climbers attempting to summit the world’s highest peak, the Nepalese government had taken steps in the right direction before the 2015 climbing season was officially shuttered following the Nepal earthquake. Among the measures were an increased fee for foreign climbers from $10,000 to $11,000, and the establishment of a liaison office at base camp to verify experience, health, and climbing conditions. As of September 2015, Nepalese tourism officials have banned "novice" climbers, and is considering setting minimum and maximum age limits for climbers. Also in the plans? An emphasis on forming smaller climbing teams so that “traffic jams” up the routes can be avoided.